Branding as it relates to Search and Corporate Blogging
I'm frequently accused of being anti-brand.   I want to set the record straight that branding is important, not critical to online marketing success.   In the old days, branding alone could make the sale.  Not true anymore.  Today at best, branding earns you consideration...if you are in the right place at the right time.  Which is where a great search strategy comes in.  Gerry Randall cornered me on Monday and told me that he's seen search results lift conversions 3x after a concentrated branding effort....I'll dig in to that and report later.

Meantime, I saw a great post by Gord Hotchkiss yesterday.  Gord tells us that most search has nothing to do with Brand and in fact people search hoping for an alternative.  If the Brand doesn't show up in the top results, it's probably a lost opportunity:

"When I use a search engine for consumer research, I'm thinking in terms of the specific thing I'm looking for, not a specific brand. Generally, when I start, I will not use a branded search term. I am building a consideration set. Yes, I likely have brands I have an affinity for, but I won't explicitly include them in my query. I'm looking for the search engine to provide me some alternatives to consider. Typically, searchers will look at four to five results before making their selection. These are usually the top sponsored, and the top two or three organic, results. This represents the prime and very limited "shelf space" of the search results page. If a brand appears that the consumer has an existing affinity for, the chances are good that the site will capture a click-through. If the brand doesn't appear, the company has likely lost the opportunity to connect with a consumer that will soon be ready to buy."

Well said Gord, and a great arguement for a widespread corporate blogging strategy focused on search.  Blog Companies; meaning organizations that are focused on empowering many if not all of their employees to participate in a passionate, informed dialog about the company, it's products and soultuions will find great success in organic search accross a wide range of topics.   The main point is to be human without being too commercial.  Another quote from Gords post:

"....the act of searching is done with the left brain. It is a rational, logical interaction, not an emotional one. That's why text-based advertising does well, and graphic or rich media doesn't. We're intellectually engaged in a task, and we're looking for information that will help us succeed in accomplishing that task. We're not looking to be influenced by an emotionally charged message. In fact, we block anything that smacks of overt commercialism or looks like advertising out of our consideration."

This is why business blogging is so powerful.   Well organized blog content will not only help you rank highly on the wide range of targeted terms, but blogging win's the engagement (called conversion in the business world) with not-too-commercial human content that talks about the thing I searched on.  Learn more about Corporate Blogging Best Practices at Compendium Blogware.